When the crowd gets in the way of being able to get to Jesus, are you willing to persist? Sometimes taking the “road less traveled” leads to breakthrough. Perhaps it might be time to invite others to be a part of your healing journey. Who might be someone who you could invite to help you get closer to Jesus?
Mark 2:1-12 NKJV
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic
And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”–He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
For Prayer and Reflection:
What did you hear or feel as you listened/read? A word? A phrase? A sensation?
How do you notice God and God’s love in these words?
When have you experienced a sense of paralysis?
When have you been carried or carried another to Jesus for forgiveness and healing?